ABC's The Gates
When I visited the set of Community last summer, creator Dan Harmon had recently gotten the unwelcome new that his show was going to be slotted against The CW’s Vampire Diaries. For some reason, this sent him into a riff about an idea for his new show a drama about Italian mobster vampires: “Madonn’, I’m a vampire! Gabbagool!”
Maybe if ABC had merged its two new summer dramas, Scoundrels (about a family of crooks) and The Gates (about bloodsucking and ennui in a suburban development), it might have had something more interesting. As it was, I thought Scoundrels wasted Virginia Madsen in a black-comedy premise that was done better on The CW’s short-lived Easy Money, while The Gates was marginally more absorbing but plodding. (And odd counterprogramming on a night that already features HBO’s popular vamp drama True Blood.
Speaking of which, as mentioned last week I doubt I’ll be blogging True Blood weekly, but feel free to use this post to discuss how the new season’s going so far.